Make a little Paradise, and invite our Creator to have some rest.

Dr Abe V Rotor 
Also visit
[avrotor.blogspot.com]
[Living with Nature] 
[naturalism - the eighth sense]

                                                         Virac, Catanduanes

Puerto Princesa, Palawan

Gourmet Farm, Silang, Cavite

Ateneo de Manila University, QC

Technohub, Diliman QC

 Lantern exhibits, Ateneo de Manila Univcrsity, QC

 St Augustine church, Tagudin, Ilocos Sur

University of Santo Tomas, Fountain of Knowledge

"Please come, and have some rest."

Dream no more, I said to myself, of Paradise Regained -

It is here, in the very core of being next to the heart

and soul, this Phrygian landscape with touch of vane,

the essence of contrition and amendment for my part.

For nothing is unforgivable, that Sin inherited by us

from our ancestors - we're doomed, deprived of heaven

on earth. No! the gifts of the Creator have been passed

onward, and here I created a piece of that lost Eden.

Here I see God beyond the street, and above my head,

His harmonious creation over land, across the sea,

I am part of the cycle of life everyday, even in bed,

as seasons come and go, for here I feel always free.

When lakes and rivers dry, and the sky no longer blue;

as cities grow, land fills with waste, air no longer fresh;

I take time out to make a li'l Eden though of simple view,

And invite my Creator to come and find a little rest." ~

The Forest is on Fire!

The Forest is on Fire! 
Dr Abe V Rotor

Forest on Fire, painting in acrylic, by AV Rotor 2015 

Summer is the time of forest fire when the trees lose their leaves piling up into thick and dry litter that spontaneously burns, made more vulnerable by global warming.

Everything goes to flame - branches, twigs, annuals plants, epiphytes, lianas, shrubs and bushes; even compost and organic matter in the soil are not spared.

Heat builds into inferno, the forest becomes a ball of fire, burning both the living and the dead, smoke bellowing far and wide, releasing gases and carbon into the air.

Birds swoop in gay and abandon on fleeing insects, daring to go at the source of fire, and tracking those that escape, even far out into the sky or over horizon.

Whole trees fall, branches crack, screeches and cries of the dying are heard, residents of the forest scamper, so with the transients, as the fire moves in and spreads,

Call it a natural process, a cycle of life and death of eliminating the unfit and saving the fittest; call it regeneration that renews the forest's composition and structure.

Now, the forest, like any ecosystem, can no longer follow the path of dynamic change, a phenomenon called homeostasis to adjust to the conditions of the environment. 

Quite often the environment is influenced by the activities of man more than by nature alone, and homeostasis may fail to preserve the ecosystem.

The ecosystem declines and ultimately breaks up; the food web is broken, the flow of energy is cut, and the life cycles of living things come to a stop.

It is dreary and sad to see a forest in skeleton, nature gone to waste, beauty lost in 

ignorance and lust, the future destroyed -   the forest is forever gone.  ~

Musical Summer for Kids - and Grownups, too

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, [www.pbs.gov.ph] 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday

It's the uke many children love to start with. 

Piano recital in the home with relatives and guests

The violin, the soulful and classical instrument, perhaps the most admired, too.

It's a potpourri of notes this trio play with the violin and the uke.


Guitar and Ukulele offer the young enthusiast a choice.

Summer is the shortest season for kids; they don't know when it starts and ends, and in between - there is never a dull moment, like marching too fast to go along, and too soon to reach the destination;

Summer is musical with the gusts of wind tamed into breeze by the trees, hissing, whispering, shaking the old ones to the ground into a pile of litter, inviting passersby to stop and rest in the tree shade;

Summer is musical with peals of thunder like distant drums and gongs, getting nearer and nearer each time, lighting flashing, and soon the sun is blocked, overcast reigns in a strange music of gloom;

Summer musical with children flying kites in lilting joy, kites soaring in crescendo and cantabile, string taut in notes and tunes, audible by the touch of the hand, receiving messages from up high;

Summer musical with kids learning to play the violin, the soulful instrument of all time - string, wind, percussion - and blending with any, or all of them, under the baton of a seasoned maestro;

Summer musical with kids abandoning for the time being the computer, the mall and loafing, learning the fundamentals of good music, and differentiating it from the postmodern noise-music version;

Summer musical with kids barely reaching the keyboard, hard at carrying and beating the drum, short of breath to reach the high notes, too thin a voice for modulation, yet wish they were on stage;

Summer musical is replaying classical musical movies like The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Oliver, Noli the Musical, Les Miserables, The King and I, Mary Poppins, this time with keener perception and interest;

Summer musical is attending workshops, getting tutor lessons, qualifying for membership in a band or orchestra, performing live before select audiences, at the grassroots and in rural communities;

Summer musical is meditation with the sound of nature drowned in the city jungle, music that calms the heart from too much work and study, to appreciate the value of beauty and freedom, shared and enjoyed by all. ~   

Transforms - Educational Tools, and Decors, too

Reviving the conventional tools of teaching and learning through visual aids. A break from monotonous lecture, and the "short-cut" method with the computer.

Museum of Natural History, UPLB 

Mt Makiling, Laguna 

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Sowbug, a relative of the insect - a terrestrial crustacean

 Replica of whale attracts teachers on field trip.  On the left is a painting of the blue whale

 Giant outline of a damsel fly and a butterfly

 Scorpion on the wall; wooden exoskeleton of insect.

 Modern sculptural representation of an insect's exoskeleton 

Fairy tale mushroom; anatomy of a tree

A representation of a "new" species of  lizard.

Applied Multiple Intelligence: Here is a simple self evaluation.

The Key to Greatness of Jose Rizal, Galilee Galileo, Mother Teresa, Carl Jung, Albert Schweitzer, Loius Pasteur, Alexander Fleming, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Christian Barnard et al 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog 
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio, 
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

The most exciting stories in science involve the sudden spark when mundane observation meets sudden inspiration. Such is the case of the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming, Galileo watching the swing of a lamp in the Cathedral of Pisa and deduced from it the law of the pendulum, and Sir Isaac Newton watching the fall of a apple and formulating the laws of gravity. It is as humorous as the sudden realization by Archimedes of the law of buoyancy.

But stories of this sort are not coincidental or incidental; they are deliberate efforts of testing a theory and looking for evidences and application. Such is the story of Louis Pasteur whose discoveries in microbiology led to a new field of medicine which is immunization, Christian Barnard revolutionizing surgery when he conducted the world’s first heart transplant. Such stories continue to amaze us. The Human Genome Project has opened before us a new horizon in medicine heretofore unknown - gene therapy.
Juan Luna  Here are four celebrated examples of multiple intelligence in action.


1. Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the great English explorer and the first white man to penetrate the heart of Africa and establish the first hospital for the natives there, was very effective in his mission not only because he was a good physician, but he was gifted with other talents. He was a minister, a musician, a naturalist and a philanthropist. Although he was criticized by his detractors for his philosophy on “reverence for life,” his outdated medical practices, and racial attitude, he was admired by mankind, and his legacy of dedication to others endures. The world will always have the memory of a giant who tried in his singular way to love as Jesus loved, oddly but honestly lived his beloved song: The deed is everything; the glory naught.

2. Carl Gustav Jung was a master of the abstruse. His explorations took him through yoga, alchemy, fairy tales, tribal rites of the Pueblo Indians, Hindu mandalas, extrasensory perception, prehistoric cave drawings – and an estimated 100,000 dreams. But when Dr. Jung was accused of having left medicine for mysticism, he replied that psychiatry must reflect all of man’s experiences, from the most intensely practical to the most tenuously mystical. If the details of his work were sometimes foggy, his overall purpose was clear: to help man live at peace with his unconscious.

3. Mother Teresa required poverty, chastity and obedience but also a fourth vow, service to the poorest of the poor. More than 3000 sisters of the missionaries of Charity joined her to pursue the religious path, aided by brothers in a separate men’s order and a host of lay 

co-workers. Together Sister Teresa and her followers operate a network of some 350 missions, spread across scores of nations, that administer hospices, food centers, clinics, orphanages, leprosariums and refuges for the insane, retarded and aged. What drove Mother Teresa into this deep dedication? She received a “call within a call” – a special vocation in which she felt God directing her to the slums. Such call is reminiscent of the voice that commanded Joan of Arc to lead the French army against the English. She did not live to see the liberation of her native land.

4. Dr Jose Rizal, our national hero, is perhaps the epitome of multiple intelligence among his people and the Malay race. He prodigiously possessed the eight realms and made use of them exceptionally fruitful within his short life. The ultimate expression of such gift that led him to greatness was inspired by a moth that circled a lamp on his study table - then singed itself suddenly into the flame. It was to become the symbol of his martyrdom.


5. Galileo Galilei (Italian pronunciation: 15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), often known mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian physicist,mathematician, engineer, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the scientific revolution during the Renaissance. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of science", and "the father of modern science".

His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honour), and the observation and analysis of sunspots. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, inventing an improved military compass and other instruments. (Wikipedia)

Multiple Intelligence
(The 8 Realms of Intelligence)

1. Interpersonal (human relations) - Sometimes this is referred to as social intelligence. Leaders excel in this field. “They exude natural warmth, they wear disarming smile,” to quote an expert on human relations. Name your favorite characters. I choose Nelson Mandela, Henry Kissinger and our own, the late Carlos P. Romulo.

2. Intrapersonal (inner vision self-reflection and meditation) – Masters in this realm are priests, nuns, poets, yogis. St. Francis of Assisi is a genius in this domain. Didn’t Beethoven compose music with his inner ear and Helen Keller “see” from an inner vision?

3. Kinesthetics (athletics, sports, body language, dance, gymnastics) - Michael Jordan and Roger Federer excel in their respective sports. Now think of your idol in the sports world, or in the art of dance. Lisa Macuja Elizalde is still the country’s top ballet dancer.

4. Languages or linguistics - There are people who are regarded walking encyclopedia and dictionary. The gift of tongue in the true sense is in being multilingual like our very own Dr. Jose Rizal. How fast can you learn the dialect or language of a place?

5. Logic (dialectics, Mathematics) - Marxism is based on dialectics which is a tool in studying and learning social sciences like philosophy. Likewise, this realm includes the intelligence of numbers – mathematics, geometry, accounting, actuarial science, etc. This is the key to many IQ tests. Einstein, Newton, Socrates, Aristotle, Hawkings are popular figures who represent this realm.

6. Music (auditory art) – Frederick Chopin, Nicanor Abelardo, Ryan Cayabyab, Lea Salonga – name your favorite. Johann Sebastian Bach is the genius of all composers. Tchaikovsky is the master of ballet music. Frederick Handel's Messiah, Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Brahms' Lullaby remain unequaled to this day. I like listening Pangkat Kawayan play Philippine music. I cannot miss hearing the Madrigal singers, the Vienna Boys, and the UST Choral Ensemble.

7. Spatial intelligence (drawing, and painting, sculpture, architecture, photography) - The greatest contemporary artist, Pablo Picasso, was robbed in his studio. Hog-tied, he carefully studied the robber, the way an artist studies his model. After the incident he sketched the face of the robber and gave it to the police. The police made a hundred arrests without succeeding in pinpointing the culprit. The sculptor Rodin wanted his subject to look as if it were melting, like clay softened by rain. What could be a better expression of poverty for his masterpiece, The Burghers of Calais?

8. Naturalism (Green Thumb, relationship with the Natural World) - There are people who are said to have a “green thumb”. Their gardens are beautiful even with little care. There are those who can predict weather, fishermen who know when a fish bites, farmers who pick the reddest watermelon, fullest macapuno nuts, just by feel and sound. Good doctors, I am sure are not only good because of high scholastic records, but have the green thumb as well.

Here is a simple exercise to find out how you fare with Multiple Intelligence. With a piece or paper,  list down the eight realms on the left column. Through self-analysis score each realm using the Likert Scale of 1 to 5, where five is very good (VG), and 1 is very poor (VP); 2 is poor (P), 3 is fair (F) and 4 is good (G). Work on this exercise individually and quietly. It usually takes 10 to 20 minutes.

What is your top three realms? Can you see their inter relationships? Relate them with your strength. On the other hand, in what ways can you improve on the other realms with lower rating? Now relate your score with your present work, your family, and community.

Yes, you can be a Schweitzer, Jung, Mother Teresa, Fleming, Darwin, Rizal, Magsaysay, et al in your own right. And, remember there are early and late bloomers. ~

Dialogue with the butterfly

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

                                          Anna Christina with friendly butterflies

Fly me to your world, oh butterfly,

     where flows the Pierian Spring,

the fountain of youth eternal,

     where Sylphids dance and sing.

I'd rather wish to be in your garden,    

     foe and friend yet we're one,

where the tree of knowledge blooms,

     nurtured by rain and sun.

I cannot reach for the rainbow,

     neither can I make one,

but you, by your wings and wand,

     build the biggest crown.

Your sense of beauty’s not ours,

     fleeting and elusive,

ephemeral to your senses all,

    before it is perceived.

Just for once, oh butterfly, to leave  

     the home of my ancestor,

I shall cease to ask another favor    

     nor crave for more. 

       Then I shall fly no more in your garden; 

            the flowers will die with the fountain,

       and all that lives shall crave the same

            with nothing to hope and gain. ~

Outstanding Thesis on Ethnobotany in Australia

Dr Abe V Rotor

Rocielie Valencia visits a store in Darwin, Northern Australia, while conducting a research leading to a Masteral degree in biology from De La Salle University Dasmariñas. Her thesis on the ethnic uses of indigenous plants was adjudged outstanding thesis this year by DLSU. While people are introduced into modern living, move in to cities, and gain affluence, the traditional sources of food, medicine, clothing, fuel, constructional and industrial materials are still very important in their lives. In fact, all over the world people are looking back at alternatives to artificial and highly processed goods, that are natural, safe, affordable and readily available, thus re-opening the door to traditional and ethnic science, among them ethnobotany.

Ms Rocielie Valencia gained confidence and trust from the aborigines as well as immigrants from different parts of the world in Northern Australia, particularly Filipinos in conducting her research which proved that plants indigenous to the place continue to play a major role in the maintenance of health and welfare, as well as the quaintness of living, among members of a mixed community - contrary to belief that postmodernism has virtually eliminated ethnicity in the many facets of everyday living and of society in general. ~